The Scariest Part Is Letting Go
by harleyquinnized
Summary: Hailee Lewis is an orphan who's orphanage was burned down by the Joker. Bruce Wayne agrees to take care of her and she forms bonds with everyone in Wayne Manor, especially Jason Todd. After his death, she has trouble coping with life and becoming the new Batgirl two years later, very against Bruce's will. Little does she know that Jason has been alive and is not happy with Batman.
1. Prologue

"Good patrol tonight, kid. Hopefully we can track down Joker more tomorrow night. I think we're getting close." Bruce said as we walked out of the Batcave. "Dick should be back from Blüdhaven already. We'll collect evidence tomorrow morning at breakfast. Head up to bed and get some rest, alright?"

"Alright. I'll see you in the morning, Bruce." I said before heading up the 2 staircases to my bedroom in Wayne Manor.

Third door on the left, in the coldest and darkest part of the Manor. Dick tells me it "matches my soul," however he doesn't realize that I really just enjoy the ambiance. Upon entering the room, I took in the usual surroundings. Dark, the balcony and windows covered by what looked to be a forest, when from the outside it was only two large trees. There was a TV on the black, wood dresser. The walls were a monochrome grayish blue and had a door leading to a closet and one or two random paintings of flowers in vases or whatever. Definitely not something I would put on my walls, but I didn't want to argue with Bruce… again. I'm a young adult, I should be allowed to have a swimsuit model… or two… or ten on my wall. I'd suggest one in my bed, but there was already someone there waiting.

Hailee Lewis. Wayne Manor's newest occupant. Her orphanage was burned down to the ground about 3 months ago at the hands of the Joker and he's been at large ever since. Everyone was killed but her, and Bruce still doesn't know how she managed to escape. She insists she jumped out the window, but jumping from the third story with no fire escape? I'm not even that good.

I kicked my shoes off my feet, took my shirt off over my head and snuck under the covers next to her, wrapping my arm around her waist.

"How was patrol?" She asked, clearly wide awake.

"Can't a guy surprise his favorite girl with a damn cuddle before he gets hounded with questions, I mean shit."

"Jason…" she said, turning her head towards me.

"Nothing. Bruce thinks we're getting close but Joker's better than that. Bruce will think he's going one way but I know he's not. We're trying." I said, sighing as I sat up. She sat up next to me and placed her forehead on my shoulder, pressing her lips to my skin.

"I know," she said, lifting her head. "You know why I ask every night. Everything I knew got taken from me. Any small thing that I had from my parents is dust. I'm 18 now, so I can't even go back. I don't know where I'll end up."

"You know Bruce won't let you go that easily." I reassured her. "He wouldn't put you out on the street. Maybe he'll make you Batgirl and you can come patrol with me instead of him. I'd prefer it. After we go and fight the big bad guys, we can have a little fun on a rooftop somewhere."

"Charming. You know how to create such a romantic setting."

"I figured we need something different from my room, what?!" She shook her head.

"Let's just get some sleep. It's 2 in the morning." She said before placing a kiss on my lips and laid back down to sleep.

I laid back down next to her, wrapping my arms around her and let the quiet surround us. Her hair smelled like strawberries and her skin was smooth and she was warm, despite how cold I would keep the room. Hailee would always be the only warmth around me.

"Lee?" I said. She stirred and I had clearly woken her up as she was dozing off. "Did we ever cover the reason that you sneak into my room every night? You hand picked your room, I'm just curious."

"It's totally for the foreplay and the sex we don't have, I thought I made that clear." Hailee said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Lee, really."

"I just feel safer around you. Not that Joker would pop into Wayne Manor and be like 'op, here's Batman and Robin!', but still. I just feel safe like this." She explained, her hands gripping on my forearm that was hanging over her stomach.

"I promise I'll keep you safe, okay? I won't let anything happen to you." I said before kissing her head and letting her fall back asleep.

I, however, had no intentions to sleep. The evidence that Bruce and I had collected was too strong for me to not look into, and I wasn't going to wait until the next night. Joker needed to be put away, for good this time. Imagine how proud Bruce would be if I did it by myself.

I waited about an hour before making sure Hailee was asleep. I put on my shirt and my shoes, gave her one more kiss and snuck out of my room and down to the cave. I suited up and after looking over the evidence one last time, I determined that Joker would be in the outer sections of Gotham in one of the old factories. I hopped on the bike and rode out, determined to find the Joker.

My eyes slowly opened as I took a glimpse at the clock on Jason's side table. 4:00 AM. I tightened my arms to my body, feeling as if something was missing and noticed that it was a pair of arms missing. I sat up, and Jason was gone. Getting out of the bed, I noticed his shoes were missing and his shirt. I opened the door and checked the bathroom but no one was there. Jason wouldn't roam the Manor at night. He wouldn't even roam the manor during the day.

I rushed downstairs and heard a faint emergency sound coming from the wine tasting room. Running inside, I saw the wine case to the cave was opened and the alarm was blaring. I ran out of the room and upstairs, knocking on Dick's door as I rushed towards Bruce's.

"BRUCE. BRUCE WAKE UP!" I banged on the door.

"What's going on?" A groggy Dick emerged from his room.

"DO YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I HEAR?" I screamed at Bruce opened his door, clearly annoyed that I had woken him.

"What's going on?" he asked, but immediately widened his eyes as he heard the alarm and ran down stairs.

Dick was on his heels and I ran after. Alfred had come out of his quarters and walked towards the wine tasting room.

"Miss Lewis, where is Master Todd?" Alfred asked me.

"He's gone! I don't know where he is. I looked everywhere and came down here when I heard the alarm!" I yelled as we entered the pathway to the cave.

Bruce walked up to the computer and turned the alarm off before punching in a number of buttons on the keyboard.

"The Bat Bike has been destroyed. It's last known location is the factories outside of town." He said. "Goddamnit, Jason!" Bruce yelled before going over to his case and suited up. Dick followed over to his. "No. You stay here incase he contacts the cave or tries to get back in. I'm going to go to the factories."

"Why would he go out? Patrol ended over 2 hours ago." Dick asked, looking over at the last check in, which was at 1:35 AM.

"He went after Joker." I mumbled in a state of shock, staring blankly at the monitors.

"What?" Bruce asked. "Hailee, what do you know? I need to know."

"He told me that you thought you were getting close to Joker but Jason said he knew better and that if you thought he'd be going one way, Joker would swerve and go another." I said, shaking. "You don't think he was right, do you? Do you think he got Joker?"

"Bruce, you better go. Al and I will stay on the monitors. Go find Jason. Now." Dick said, sitting down at the keyboard and put an ear piece in.

"Keep in contact." Bruce said before getting into the Batmobile and sped off.

Dick tracked his movements. He got to the factories in no time, but with so many to check, it would be a while before Jason was found. Time ticked by. Every minute felt like an hour. I began pacing and looking through Jason's things to see if I could find any type of clue as to where he was. He'd taken off his tracker so we couldn't find him that way. He'd left a lot of essential things behind that he normally wouldn't if he went with Bruce. Maybe he was in some sort of rush.

"Oh no." I heard Dick say behind me. My head turned quickly.

"What?"

"I just heard a bang on Bruce's end. And we lost contact."

"What kind of bang, Dick?" I asked as he rushed to his case and started getting dressed.

"Not the gunshot kind."

"What a little BirdBrain, coming here to live up to the BatBrain's standards! How cute. Looks like the little family of rodents has some daddy issues, don't they?" Joker said, pinching my cheek as he condescended me. I was tied to a chair and he had already done a pretty great number on me. I could feel a broken rib or two. A black eye, definitely.

"You're the only issue, you piece of shit." I said, spitting down at his feet. He got close to my face and grinned.

"Now I KNOW that 'ol Bats didn't teach you that language! Did you hack into the parental controls?" Joker laughed before slamming his fist to my face once again, but this time hard enough to knock the chair I was sitting in over.

As I lay on the ground, he continued his laugh before taking out an old crowbar and twirled it in his hand like a cane. Like he was in a show, putting on a performance.

"You know, kid. I gotta hand it to ya. You came all the way out here for silly little me. Are you jealous of mine and Batsy's relationship? Upset you'll never play a part?" He laughed before swinging the crowbar towards my stomach, once and then twice and again and again. "I mean… he isn't even here to see the GRAND FINALE, KID! HA-HA-HA!" Joker went on, beating my legs, my back and my head. He didn't stop. Every hit hurt because he was right. Where was Bruce?

"He'll come. He will." I said, trying to get to my feet before Joker kicked me back down and hit my head with the bar again.

"Look kid, hate to break it to ya, but Bats isn't coming. I'm sure he'll be here in the morning though! When this place is nothing but dust." Joker giggled as he fiddled with wires on a bomb and held it towards my face. It was ticking down from two minutes. "Too bad you won't be here to see that!" He said, kicking me in the stomach before putting the bomb on a barrel and left.

I shimmied over to one of the crates and tried to support myself to sit up and as I did, I saw the bomb in the distance. Ten seconds. Bruce left me here. I left the alarm ringing. He left me.

"Anything Dick?" I asked through the earpiece as I clicked on buttons to keep up with his movements. Alfred was listening to the police scanner on the other workbench.

"I see some smoke in the distance. The car is to the side but no sign of Bruce. Did you hear anything?" He asked. I checked the other earpiece and heard static but nothing more.

"Just static. Get close to that smoke, Dick. It's probably where he is. I'm not Barbara, but I'm going to try to hack into the factories security system." I said, clicking on buttons which showed a number of different characters and numbers and symbols.

"Miss Lewis, inform Master Dick that the authorities are in route to the factory. There was an explosion." Alfred said, his voice sounding shaky. He was clearly thinking what I was trying to deny - Jason was in there.

"Did you hear him Dick?" I asked.

"Yup."

"I did too. Dick, get back to the cave. Now." Bruce said. "I'm on my way back."

"What happened, Bruce?" Dick asked.

"Joker."

Time went by slowly. Dick came back and got out of his suit. Bruce kept telling us to wait in the cave until he got there. Barbara had made contact with us and informed us that the factories were a mess and her father had told her that Joker was the obvious culprit and that Batman was infuriated. Alfred went upstairs to get everyone some coffee although we told him it was okay and that he should wait for Bruce too, but he insisted. I knew he went upstairs to try to get his mind off everything.

Dick sat up and looked towards the waterfalls where the Batmobile usually enters. I turned my head as Bruce drove in and shut the car. The Bat Bike was usually parked right next to the Batmobile. As he stood outside of the car, he took a moment to look at the spot before walking up the platform to us.

"Please tell me he's okay, Bruce. Please." I called down to him as he walked slowly upstairs. Dick stood behind me and held onto my shoulders. "Bruce, where is he?" I said as he came into view, his gaze distant.

"Bruce?" Dick said, looking over at him.

Bruce took off his mask with one hand and threw it on the workbench. With the other, he took Jason's cape from his belt, which was charred and had holes in it.

"No." I said, shaking my head. "No. No. NO. NO." I screamed, sobbing in Dick's arms before sliding to the floor. "HE'S NOT DEAD. HE'S NOT. NO. BRUCE, PLEASE TELL ME HE'S NOT. **HE'S NOT DEAD.** " I cried, hearing a slam in the background, which I could only assume was Alfred dropping his tray upon entering the cave to the news.

Dick picked me up and carried me out of the cave as I sobbed. He whispered in my ear to calm me down from my hysterics. He carried me up the stairs and walked into the direction of my room. I squirmed and fell from his arms and ran in the other direction to Jason's room.

"No, no. No. No. He can't be. He isn't. Jason. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? NO!" I screamed, slamming the door behind me and running to his bed, sobbing for the remainder of the night.


	2. 1: I'm Going To Give All My Secrets Away

There was a full moon shining in the sky bright enough to light up Gotham, even in the darkest sections. The air was crisp on the early autumn night and the sky was clear of clouds. Tiny stars that looked more like mini-snowflakes speckled the sky.

"Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might have this wish I wish tonight." I said to myself quietly before taking a moment to think of a wish. At almost twenty years old, you think I'd have gotten out of this habit. "I wish the Joker would stay in Arkham. And never hurt anyone I love again." I said before sitting up on the Wayne Manor rooftop.

It was the two year anniversary of my arrival at the Manor. When I arrived here, I was Hailee Anne Lewis. Now two years later, I'm Hailee Anne Wayne, although I prefer to still use Lewis as my surname. I don't live up to the Wayne standards, which Bruce respects. He just wants me to finally feel like I have a family here, so he adopted me even though I was eighteen and technically couldn't BE adopted but well… not the point. No one knows he did it because I don't go out much. I'm basically a secret which I prefer.

It was also the two year anniversary of meeting everyone in Wayne Manor. Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Barbara (she was here the night I came in) and Jason.

Jason.

The thought of him still hurts. It still feels like I'm in some deranged nightmare. In a matter of three months, the Joker had taken everything that I held close away. The kids at the orphanage as well as our caretakers and nurses. Everything I had from my childhood, regardless of how minimal. And then Jason.

I still remember the day the orphanage burned down. I remember a young eight year old boy, Billy, talking to some strange man at the fence during outdoor chores. The rest of the day, he seemed like he was in some sort of trance. He moved so robotically and was so obedient, something so off because he wasn't the best behaved kid. That night, the fire began in his room, which was right next to mine. It spread quickly. I only got out by jumping out a third story window, something that still shocks Bruce when I bring it up. There were no survivors and I came here. Three weeks later, I turned eighteen and was considered an "adult," so I was out of the adoption system anyways.

I clung to Jason immediately. We had a lot in common in terms of attitude. Most girls enjoyed makeup and obsessing over boys where I preferred sitting around and reading a good book in some baggy pajama pants and a band shirt. He liked to sit around and do things around the Manor that he probably shouldn't have been doing, although he never made a mess because he hated Alfred cleaning up after him. When he put on that suit though, he was all business. He was the Boy Wonder.

I would sleep in his room every night. After the fire, I just felt uncomfortable sleeping in a room by myself and Jason never minded... I assume. I'm sure he could have brought home girls if he wanted. We didn't date. A kiss here, a peck there, a talk of sex here but never actually going through with it; it was all a huge tease but it was all a tease I didn't mind. I was around him and that mattered.

The night he died, I stayed awake and sobbed. Dick tried talking to me. Alfred tried to bring me some water to stay hydrated. I didn't accept anything. Even as I sit on this roof, looking at the moon like we used to, I still feel like I'm in one of Joker's nightmares and none of this is real. Jason's just on vacation and Tim is taking his place... indefinitely.

More than anything, I wish I knew Jason's motives. Why go out without Bruce? Why go without your tracker? It sounds like a suicide mission that he was determined to complete, and he did. Bruce still says it's his fault. "My partner. My soldier. My fault." But is it really? If Jason would have kept his tracker, Jason would still be alive. We could have all found him and gotten to him. I'm sitting here, sounding like I'm blaming him but we all tried.

I heard the door to the roof quietly close and a set of footsteps which knocked me out of my thoughts. I looked up at the moon as Dick came and sat down next to me. I could see from the corner of my eye that he was in his Nightwing getup meaning he had just gotten back from patrol.

"Blüdhaven's quiet tonight?" I asked him, not taking my eyes off the moon.

"Quiet as a mouse. Bruce told me there was a situation in the Bowery section of Gotham but told me he had it. Riddler nonsense." He said, placing his staff down on the other side of him. "Any reason you're up here?"

"It's the first full moon of the month. You know I keep up the tradition." I said.

"Is three times really a tradition?" Dick asked.

"Those three times mattered. This was Jason and I's thing. His secret spot, and now mine. I'm not ready to let go yet."

"Hai, with all due respect, it's been 2 years, almost. Jason made the decision. I know you miss him, and we all do, especially Bruce. But you and him both need to live in the present. Jason and I minimally got along, but he was full of life and he'd want both of you to be as well." Dick explained, taking my hand in his.

"I am full of life. And I will devote mine to prevent his memory in my mind from going away." I sighed, lacing my fingers with his. In the past 2 years, Dick and I slowly formed a friendship that was unlike any I've ever had. He was like a brother to me. He was my shoulder to cry on, my punching bag to vent to and a person who I could confide all of my secrets in. He was aware of my feelings for Jason before I needed to tell him and he accepted them.

"Well, I know I way you could do that…"

"Dick, you are aware that if I went near Barbara's old Batgirl suit, Bruce would break his rule and would probably kill me. He blames himself for everything that happens to anyone he cares about. He adopted me into the Wayne family. I'm not trained or prepared to be Batgirl or any variation of Bat at all." I explained as I let go of Dick's hand and stood up.

"I can help train you. You're already a hacking genius thanks to Barbara, so let me help you with your combat. You have the motivation." Dick said, standing up next to me with his staff in his hand.

"Oh? And what's that? What's the motivation to make me want to be Batgirl?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Keeping Joker and his men in Arkham."

"They're all in Arkham."

"Two of his men escaped." My eyes widened. "They slipped over the gates and past security. Smaller guys who really aren't huge threats, but that means that Joker is starting to stir things up. It's only a matter of time before he concocts some plan to break out of Arkham." He said with a sigh. "I don't think Bruce, Tim and I are enough to keep him at bay. Tim is still fresh, Bruce is mentally out of it because of Jason's death and wouldn't allow me to leave Blüdhaven. We need another set of wings." I sighed and looked at the ground before looking back up at him.

"Get Superman." I turned on my heels and walked towards the door that led to the Manor.

* * *

The next morning was a late start. Bruce had gone to Wayne Enterprises to check out some new things that Mr. Fox had in the prototype stage. Dick was awake, but Alfred let me sleep in although I hadn't slept much. My talk with Dick earlier had lingered on my mind. Me as Batgirl? Was he going mad?

I sat up, draped my legs over the side of the bed and took a hair tie off the side table, tying my dark red hair into a messy bun before standing up. I put on a black and white robe and walked out of the room barefoot. Looking over the balcony that overlooked the main living room area, I saw Alfred dusting some furniture and Dick walking back and forth, apparently looking for something. I walked over to the staircase and proceeded down, walking over to Alfred.

"Did Dick lose his head?" I asked and Alfred flashed me a smile.

"Miss Wayne. Master Dick apparently is expecting someone and he seems to have lost something… again." Alfred said.

"Alfred, if you're not going to call me Hailee, can it please be Miss Lewis?" I asked, giving him a small half smile.

"As you wish, Miss Lewis. Can I get you anything this afternoon?"

"I'm just going to get myself a bowl of cereal. I got it. Don't worry." I reassured, walking into the kitchen.

Taking a bowl out of the cupboard, I found a box of Tim's Cocoa Puffs and poured some into the bowl. I was a weird one and didn't like milk with my cereal, so I didn't bother taking a spoon. I began picking at the cereal with my hands while making myself a cup of some herbal tea with honey when I heard Dick shuffle into the room.

"Does this look okay? Do I match? Is my hair okay?" He panicked. I looked over at him and turned away from the simmering water.

"Lunch date? Midday sex outing? What the fuck are you worrying about?"

"It's a date! A third date! With a reporter. She's always super serious and I feel like such a dickhead when I'm around her." He said, tightening his tie.

"You are a dickhead, Dick." I joked, turning back to the teapot as it began to boil. Turning the water off, I carefully poured it into a small teacup and placed the teabag in.

"Not helping." He said, walking out of the room.

I walked into the living area and sat down on one of the chairs. Alfred had left to dust other parts of the house. Dick apparently ran upstairs to change. I was alone. You would think I would be used to the solitude, but it never became familiar; it always felt like loneliness and emptiness. As I ate some more of the chocolatey cereal, I heard the doorbell of Wayne Manor ring.

"Got it Alfred!" I stood up and placed my bowl down before walking over to the door. Opening the door, there was a young woman with black hair and glasses that fit her brown skin perfectly. She wore a flowing black skirt with a suitable white top and black blazer. Very reporter-like.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Hello, my name is Marcella. Marcella Castellano. I'm here to meet up with Dick Grayson?" She smiled as I tilted my head.

"Dick told you he lived here?"

"No, I figured it out myself."

"So you stalked him?"

"No. It was actually very obvious. Dick never sees me at night, so I know he's occupied. He has the same hair and eye color as Nightwing and has the same build. Bruce Wayne is Batman so I only figured that Dick could be living here." Marcella smiled as my mouth hung open.

"DICK. GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW." I screamed.

* * *

Pacing back and forth by the fireplace, I thought hard about how to explain this to Alfred. Marcella and Dick sat down on a couch and stayed quiet. As Alfred entered the living area, he set his duster down and walked over to me.

"You rang, Miss Lewis?"

"We have a huge issue, Alfred." I said.

"HUGE? This is insane." Dick said, standing up.

"Dick, I promise, I'm not going to tell anyone. Really. I've known for a while!" Marcella said, standing next to him.

"If it's not obvious, Alfred, Dick's girlfriend knows he's Nightwing. And she also knows that Bruce is Batman." I explained and Alfred took a deep inhale and closed his eyes.

"Oh dear. Okay. How did this happen?" Alfred asked all three of us.

"I've known for a while… Alfred, was it?" She asked and he nodded. "There was no way any normal classed, humble human could afford the cars and planes and gadgets and constant suit upgrades and fund the same thing for multiple other people." Marcella explained. "I graduated at the top of my class at Gotham University a full two years early. I'm the youngest writer at the Gotham Times and you have my word, I will not say anything. Bruce has done so much for this city, the least I can do is keep his secret." She said.

"I'd hope so." A voice behind us said. Bruce stood in the clearing next to a wheelchair bound Barbara Gordon.

"Master Bruce, I didn't get the message to come and pick you up, my apologies." Alfred started but Bruce shook his head.

"Lucius drove me home. I had to pick up Barbara anyways. We have to discuss Joker's two men escaping from Arkham." Bruce said and approached us.

"There was a minor breach in security at the penitentiary ward. All the cameras in that area went dark around one in the morning. Joker has to have someone in there, but to question every person who works at Arkham would take weeks. He's planning a breakout." Marcella said, crossing her arms. "I told you guys, I'm willing to give back to Batman for everything he's done for this city. I can help you. I can give you information. I make trips to Arkham at least once a week and I know I can find out information for you. Things people wouldn't tell the Commissioner for fear of being arrested. But they'd 'anonymously tip' to a reporter." She said.

The room was quiet. The situation didn't involve me and I couldn't make a decision. This was up to Bruce, Dick, Barbara and Alfred. Tension was high and I wanted to leave but I stood there, my arms crossed in my black and white robe that went down to the floor.

"Alright. You can help with Barbara. I assume you'll be around often anyway. You're sworn to secrecy now. Let's keep it that way." Bruce said and walked towards the wine tasting room, Barbara in tow to the Batcave.

* * *

Bruce, Dick and TIm were getting ready to suit up for patrol that night. Barbara had familiarized Marcella with the Batcave's computer systems and Alfred paid close attention to the police scanner. Marcella was going to watch over the cave while Alfred drove Barbara to the Clock Tower to observe from there. My job was to make sure she didn't break anything and do hacking jobs while Barbara wasn't near a computer. As everyone got ready, I stood in front of one of the suit cases that was never touched. A long black cape, bright yellow accents, form fitting. The Batgirl suit was untouched and dust free in its case right next to Jason's Robin costume which the GCPD respectfully returned to Batman.

"What a suit, huh?" Dick said, turning his back towards me so I could zip up his suit.

"I know what you're thinking. I'm not going to be Batgirl, Dick." I said, making sure the suits bulletproof padding was all in place.

"Why won't you just let me train you at least? It'd be nice to know how to defend yourself anyways. Imagine you go out one night and you get mugged. Wouldn't you want to know how to beat someone up, at least?" He explained, and as much as I hated to admit it… made a point. Self defense, especially for a woman living in Gotham City was important.

"If I say yes, will it shut you up? You can train me in self defense, but no Batgirl." I said and tapped him on the shoulder to go to Bruce. "Go patrol. You can start training me tomorrow, okay?" I finished as Dick smiled.

"Good."

"Alright, we have the plan for tonight? Tim and I have Gotham, Dick is in Blüdhaven. Marcella, keep in contact with Dick and track his progress. Hailee, you're with Tim until Barbara and Alfred return to posts. Barbara will then be with me and Alfred will be with Tim. Are we clear?" Bruce said as he walked to the Batmobile.

After everyone had left, it was myself and Marcella left. She was typing away on the computer and tracking Dick's movements while I sat at Alfred's post and tracked Bruce and TIm.

"TIm, just let me know when you're in the Bowery. The police scanner is saying there was a string of small robberies. Obvious culprit is Two-Face and his gang, but be on your toes. We have two of Joker's men out there." I said into the mic.

"No problem Hailee. Bruce told me he's going to get the Park Row and Industrial Districts tonight. Bowery is my area. Apparently, there are a few more issues in Bruce's sections." Tim responded as he began to come to the Bowery border.

"I'm ejecting you Tim in three… two… one… now!" I said as his tracker went from being on the street to in the air. "Be safe, kid."

When Barbara finally got to the Clock Tower and Alfred returned back to the cave, I was able to free roam around the cave. I could clean, look at gadgets and sort out blueprints and schematics for new cars and bikes. I didn't choose any of those. I continued to look at the Batgirl costume and then look at Jason's Robin costume. Back and forth, back and forth.

"Miss Lewis, if I may speak out of term?" Alfred said, coming up behind me.

"You know you always can around me, Alfred." I said, not taking my eyes off the suit.

"You'd make a lovely Batgirl. And Jason would be very proud of you, I'd think." He said, his arms behind his back.

"Bruce doesn't want me to be Batgirl, Alfred. You know that." I said, looking away from the suit and at him.

"But what do you want?" He asked before walking back to his station to contact Tim, leaving me to ponder what I really did want.


	3. 2: Red Like Roses Fills My Dreams

"You're supposed to be doing a right hook, not a left. You're a righty, Hai." Dick said as I caught my breath. We'd been training for 3 hours in the cave and it showed me how tough this actually was.

"I'm ambidextrous, Dick. If you'd stop moving, I can show you that." I said, crossing my arms.

"Is the Joker going to stand still and let you hit him?"

"He's into that..." I shrugged.

"Your right is quicker. Let's try this again. On three." Dick said, walking to the other side of the cave.

On three, we charged. He came in with a punch and I blocked. Dick was very light on his feet, so I needed to be quick. He would jump over me and I'd immediately turn, able to block his next hit. He's go for my gut and I'd bridge over, bending back and using my flexibility to my advantage. The opening was there to do what he wanted so I punched him once, twice in the face with my left fist and then a third with my right, putting more force into that hit. Dick went down.

"Oh my god! Are you okay? Did I hurt you?!" I stammered, getting down next to him.

"You can't be Batgirl my ass. We've been training for a week and you're already amazing. What kind of Bane drugs are you on?" He asked as I helped him up. "I shouldn't be surprised. You jumped out of a three story burning window and landed on your feet." He said, walking over to one of the workbenches to get a cold brick to put on his face.

"A brick?"

"Do you see ice anywhere? Unless you're magic, don't judge." He pointed and walked past me. "Look, I'm just saying, you'd be great on those streets. Those thugs won't know what hit them."

"Speaking of thugs, any news on those two Joker guys?" I asked, sitting down at the monitor.

"Nothing, they've been quiet. Bruce has a lot on his plate, with Two-Face's robberies peppered around Gotham, Riddler trying to be a thorn in his side and now Black Mask's drug arms coming at a head because of Penguin's in Blüdhaven, Bruce is scattered everywhere. I told you, Hai. We need wings." Dick said, sitting next to me.

"Or more cops. Or Superman." I said.

"Hai..."

"I'm kidding. But really. I'm not ready to be swinging off rooftops to play with Two-Face and Ridder."

"So how about Black Mask? I'm taking charge of the Penguin investigation so how about you take charge of Black Mask?" Dick suggested.

"Bruce would kill me." I said and stood up, walking over to the Batgirl suit.

"Who says we need to tell him?" Dick said.

* * *

Later that evening, Dick told me that he and Marcella were going out for a quick bite to eat before patrol time and they wanted me to come. They usually went to fancy places, but promised me that since it was quick, casual wear was okay. I put on some black leggings, a long, red flannel shirt and some black knee high combat boots. I looked at myself in the mirror and put on some eyeliner, blended some gray and red eyeshadow onto my lids before finishing off with mascara and a bold red lip. I went to open the door and Dick jumped; clearly about to knock on the door before I startled him.

"Hair in a bun or a beanie?" I asked him.

"Beanie, let's go." He said. I took the beanie off the table and followed him down the staircases to meet up with Marcella.

"So, where are we going?" Marcella asked Dick, greeting him with a kiss.

"Anywhere quick. We have to be back soon for patrol. We have about an hour and a half. Fancy usually takes long, I'm sorry." He said, looking down at her. I crossed my arms and stayed silent, following them the whole way.

Marcella drove, Dick sat passenger which put me in the back with her suitcase and papers scattered everywhere. I picked up some of the papers, unable to prevent myself from snooping. They were research copies of the Arkham security system and it's functions. Her notes scribbled all around the edges of the paper had deduced that there was someone working with Joker deep in Arkham, and getting two out was only the beginning. There were over thirty of Joker's men in Arkham and over fifty in Blackgate. All of them were dangerous and loyal to their "leader," as Dick called him. He described Joker's clan as a terrorist group and knew they would die in the line of fire for him.

We stopped in front of a quick sushi restaurant and my stomach immediately flipped and hoped there was some teriyaki available or that this was one of those places that served some Mexican food as well. She parked and they got out. Marcella had a two door car so Dick moved the seat up and helped me out of the car. We walked in together and sat down by the sushi bar and waited to be helped.

"I'm totally getting teriyaki. It's on the menu." I said, pointing to the chicken teriyaki with rice and steamed veggies.

"Scared to try the hard stuff on your first patrol night?" Dick whispered, taking a sip of the water that the busboy brought to him.

"Patrol? Her? What am I missing Dick?" Marcella asked, raising her brow.

"Hailee is going to patrol with me tonight. Just not near me. At all. She's going to the Industrial District." He said, looking at her.

"How exactly are you getting this past Bruce?" She asked.

"Simple. The 3 guys go out. Hailee suits up, inspects and returns before any of us. Hailee will be in contact with you and I. I'll be in one of your ears and she'll be in the other. She'll be in contact with both of us as well." He explained.

"Bruce is going to kill you both, you know that right?" She looked at both of us. I simply nodded and Dick looked between her and I.

"Why do you both say that? Look, Bruce will be thankful. We need extra help." Dick said.

"Did you think of asking Bruce to call Clark?" She retorted. I threw my hands in the air.

"Thank you!" I said as our waiter arrived.

"Wait, you know who he is too?" Dick looked dumbfounded.

"I've been around for a week. I know who all of them are." She responded at they ordered their food and I ordered mine.

* * *

"Patrol for the night, listen up!" Bruce called as he put his mask on and met by the monitors. Tim was by his side and Dick was opposite them. I stood in front of the Batgirl costume and listened. "Dick, investigate Penguin's drug and arms deals going on in Blüdhaven, then shoot over to the Industrial District to investigate Black Mask. Tim, the Bowery like last night. I'll be in Park Row and hopefully tonight, we can catch Two-Face. Alfred, you're with me tonight. Barb, you're with Tim. Marcella, you're with Dick. Hailee, keep an ear on the scanner." He said and turned to the Batmobile without a word. Tim followed and then Dick, who turned around and gave me a look.

After Bruce and Tim left, Marcella, Alfred and I were the only ones left in the Cave. I waited five minutes before Alfred looked at me with his earpiece in his ear.

"You know, Miss Lewis. If you're going to patrol, you may want to suit up." He smiled and typed in the code to open the case.

"I can't do this." I said, looking at the suit.

"You can. I have absolute faith in you. If you want me to be in your ear, I don't think Marcella would be offended." He said as she turned around.

"I wouldn't be, Hailee. Dick needs you out there tonight and if Bruce returns early, we all had a part to play in this and we all go down with you. Dick tells me that his main concern is being on his toes but also being comfortable, although I don't know how comfortable those suits are." Marcella said.

"Then why don't you put it on?" I suggested. She laughed.

"Because I'm not worthy of being Batgirl. You are. And once you put that suit on, I feel like you'll believe in yourself a little more." She smiled and turned back towards the computer.

"The decision overall is yours, Miss Lewis." Alfred said before returning to his post.

"Thanks, Mufasa." I mumbled and took the suit down from the hooks in the case.

The suit was very tight, but Barbara had always told me that it felt that way because of the bulletproof pads by the chest and abdomen. I put the cape on and it reached just above the ground. The bright yellow utility belt fit perfectly and held batarangs, my grapple gun and a batclaw. The gloves had electrical shock wiring, similar to Dick's staffs built into them so whenever I needed extra strength, those would engage; which would definitely explain why Dick had me practice my right hooks so much. I walked into the clearing and Alfred and Marcella turned around. I went to take the mask from the case but Alfred stood up.

"Not that one. This one." He said, taking a mask off the workbench and handing it to me. "The mask molds to your head so it doesn't come off. It doesn't have the attachments that Bruce's mask has to his suit. It won't hurt, but this one is yours. I've been hiding it."

"Of course you have." I said and put it on my face. It fit perfectly but felt like I now had tunnel vision. This was what it was like to be in a Batsuit.

"For what it's worth, you look hot as hell." Marcella shrugged and stood up, giving me an earpiece. "You just need to tell us who the other one is going to." She held the other piece out to me.

"You." I said to her and looked at Alfred. "Keep Tim safe. He's a priority. We've lost one Robin, we don't need another lost."

"As you wish Miss Lewis. Now for your mode of transportation, I was able to reconstruct Master Todd's bike with a few slight adjustments." He said, walking me to the bike. "It's quicker and has some pressure guns. You've never ridden one, so be careful. You will eject yourself as you enter the Industrial District and the bike will stop and autopilot to a secure location." He explained as I lifted one leg over the bike to sit down and turned it on. "Be safe, Hailee." He sighed as I stepped on the gas and rode out of the Batcave.

* * *

The wind on my face began to sting, but not as much as it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I felt as light as a feather on the bike; his bike. I knew I needed to do this. This was a start and if I could put Black Mask away, I could earn Bruce's trust and through time, go on Joker's trail. I got to the border of the Industrial District and ejected myself off the bike and spread out my arms as I gained altitude. Dick had told me that the most difficult thing when on patrol was getting around, but it wasn't something I couldn't get used to.

I stood on top of one of the buildings that was connected to the Sionis Steel Mill and hid in the shadows as much as I could. I noticed a few others on the rooftop and tilted my head. Dick was still in Blüdhaven, so it couldn't have been him.

"Dick, I got visitors on the roof of the Steel Mill." I said into my earpiece.

"Be careful. Those could be some of Penguin's guys or his guys on patrol. News travels fast and I'm sure Black Mask's men know that I'm on Penguin's trail." He said.

I moved quickly on the rooftops and did my best to follow the runners. I turned my sonar on to keep a tab on them. There were five of them, four unarmed and one armed with dual pistol guns. They were scattered about on top of the main building of the Steel Mill. I decided the best way to move forward was to take them out quietly, one by one. The first one was on the South East of the building, closest to me. I crept up behind him, put him in a sleeper hold that I had practiced with Dick and moved to the next person, quietly. The North East had one guy and I did the same. He was bigger, so I applied the sleeper tighter and used my weight before taking him down. The next was the North West, and it seemed as if these guys got larger. I slid off the building and shimmied on the rail over to him. Pulling myself up, I put the sleeper on and propped myself on one of the smoke pipes that was on the roof. One more. South West, biggest guy, unarmed. I slid over and kicked him behind his leg, bringing him down to apply the sleeper. All four unarmed men were out, and the armed man was unseen, so I proceeded to the panel in the middle of the roof and dropped in.

The room was quiet and had papers scattered everywhere. Three bodies lay lifeless on the floor. I went over to one and used my boot to turn him over; gunshot wounds. One to the chest and one to the head, from what I could tell behind his mask that showed he was a devoted member to Black Mask. The other two were the same. I went over to the desk and looked at the papers. Information on drug deal spots and heavy arms deals that happened under the radar. I snapped a photo with the built in camera attached to the sonar setting on my mask and turned to leave with the information I came for. I jumped, seeing a man in a red hood sitting in a lounge chair, clearly being quiet as I did my job.

"Well, well, well." He said, standing up. His voice was robotic behind his hood, which resembled a helmet more than anything. He wore a black jacket, a black shirt under and some red, black and gray camouflage pants with combat boots. "A new Batgirl?"

"Who are you?" I said, holding my fists up in a defensive position.

"Oh, I know you very well. You may not believe me though." The man said as he came closer to me. I went to throw a punch at him but he blocked it, and another, and another. "Now I know Dick taught you better than that."

"Dick?" I said, my eyes widening. This man knew Dick was Nightwing. "Who are you?!" I yelled, activating the electric shocks on my gloves as I threw punches at him. He blocked every one of them and moves with ease. He never took his guns out of their holders, which I wouldn't have been prepared for.

"I don't think you're ready for that." He said, throwing his fists at me now. It was my turn to block and I blocked every one. He was as quick as Dick was with his fists but was much stronger. One punch could knock me out.

"Try me." I snapped back and ran to him, taking him by surprise and sliding between his legs; grabbing his arms behind him.

"Oh, little Lee. You missed me?" He said, and I immediately let him go. I stood back and tilted my head.

"What did you call me?" I asked, glaring at his helmet. He stepped back and lifted his arm, revealing a grapple of his own and flew out of the hole in the roof. I followed him as quickly as I could and looked around, but he was gone. "It can't be…" I whispered to myself as I grappled off the roof and to the area where my bike was.

* * *

Upon returning to the cave and walking up the stairs, Dick was sitting with his arms crossed next to Marcella. He stood up when he saw me and I saw that Bruce and Tim's cases weren't filled yet, so I was safe.

"Why didn't you stay in contact with us?" Dick asked, walking over to me. He gave me a hug and checked to make sure I was okay.

"Could you warn a girl when you frisk her, please? Especially with your girlfriend present?" I joked, took off my mask and handed it to Alfred. "There's photos of lists of all the drug and high arms deals Black Mask is planning to counter Penguin's advances. But I ran into some complications." I explained, taking the cape off and hanging it in the Batgirl case. "Some guy with a red hood was there. I took out four of his guys, but he killed three of Sionis' men. He stayed quiet and crept up on me as I was finishing the investigation." I explained, taking off the utility belt.

"Okay, that happens all the time." Dick shrugged.

"He knows you're Nightwing. He knows you trained me. He knows who I am." I turned to him.

"Do you know who he is?" Dick asked. I hesitated.

"No. But if I'm going out every night as Batgirl, I'm investigating him. I was after Black Mask and he took out three of his men. I need to know who he is and if he's an ally or not. You're covering the Black Mask case." I said to Dick and walked away to take off the suit.

* * *

My body was sore in places that I didn't think soreness could exist. Bruce returned a good amount of time after I had taken off the suit, so I was in the clear. Nothing was out of place and he didn't suspect a thing. I had something small to eat, Alfred made me some tea and I went up to the room to get some sleep. Regardless of the situation, I still went to Jason's room. I didn't believe the person was Jason. Jason was dead, buried and memorialized in the Wayne Manor cemetery. It wasn't him. I opened the door to the room and looked around. Everything was in place as I had left it. The balcony doors were closed. Being Batgirl was going to make me paranoid. Kicking off my slippers, I laid down in bed and fell asleep easily from exhaustion.

* * *

She slept so soundly as she always did when I would come back from patrolling the Gotham rooftops. It was like she didn't have a care in the world. I saw the look in her eyes tonight. She knew it was me, but she didn't say a word, or my name. Nothing. I was dead. She wouldn't believe how I came back to life. I stood up off the dresser and walked back over to the balcony. The light reflected perfectly off her face and her dark red hair covered the pillow. I took my helmet off and walked closer to her, gently placing a kiss on her head. Before walking back to the balcony, I took the white flowers that rested on the side table out of their vase and replaced it with a red rose. hoping she'd notice in the morning. She stirred and I walked quickly to the balcony doors, opened them and put my helmet back over my head. I tossed the white flowers into the tree and jumped down before she could see me. I was dead. She wasn't ready to know. It'd stay that way.


	4. 3: This Is Me

My eyes slowly fluttered open as the sun shone into my room through the trees. The sheets felt comforting against my skin, compared to the feeling of my body which wasn't good. I was sore, and after rubbing my eyes, I looked down at my arms. Light bruises were present on my forearms and I could only imagine my stomach. Sitting up in the bed, I stretched my body as I looked at the balcony doors. I stood up and walked to the double doors, fiddling with the lock before opening them to allow the fresh air to hit my face, inhaling deep as I stood outside. Taking in my surroundings, I looked at the changing leaves on the trees outside the window and smiled before looking down at the courtyard. I noticed some white flower petals scattered on the floor and then shifted my head to the garden on the side of the house. Wayne Manor didn't have any white flowers. Going back inside, I looked at the table beside the bed where there was a vase that originally had white flowers in it. Now it contained a single red rose. Walking back to the double doors, I closed them and made sure they were locked before leaving the room to take a bath, hoping that what I saw was a hallucination.

"Hey, everything okay?" Dick stopped me as I rushed through the hall. "You look like you've seen a ghost." You have no idea, Dick.

"I'm fine. I was just rushing to take a bath because you take longer than I do in the master bathroom. I wanted some 'me time,' especially after last night. I'm sore as hell." I explained quickly.

"Well, I need to talk to you so I'm talking to you through the door. Marcella found out some information on that guy you encountered last night." He said and followed me to the bathroom. I shut the door behind me while he stayed on the other side.

"So who is this guy?" I yelled as I started the water to find the right temperature. I stripped out of my clothes, wrapped a towel around my body and opened the door.

"He's called the Red Hood." Dick said, looking down at some papers Marcella gave him.

"Wasn't that Joker's original name? He's still in Arkham and plus, this guy didn't look anything like the Joker's Red Hood. He didn't move like him either. Although he did carry guns…" I said, leaning against the doorframe.

"He isn't Joker. Joker is still very much in Arkham, although Marcella doesn't think it'll be for much longer. He's a different guy, different morals. Joker would just go on a killing spree. This guy sets targets, preferably the mobs around the city. He's currently targeting Black Mask since he has the largest clientele. Then he'll probably target Penguin." He explained.

"Why target gangs though? Why not just start your own and obtain followers like they all did?"

"Why have competition? He's fairly new, and nothing big has been reported about him, but from what Marcella could find out… he's dangerous. Very dangerous." Dick sighed.

"Most people who carry around guns are, Dick." I said.

"We don't want you going after him."

"Well, I am."

"Hailee…" He sighed.

"No. No 'Hailee.' This guy knows who I am and who you are. I need to fi-"

"He's not an ally. He's not good." Dick cut me off.

"I need to at least find out who he is. End of discussion." I said, closing the bathroom door.

I put some epsom salt, essential oil and some bubble bath into the running water and sat on the edge of the tub, watching as it filled up. If, and it was a huge if, Jason really was under that mask and he somehow mysteriously came back from the dead, why wouldn't he come back to the Manor? Why wouldn't he come home to everyone, especially me? I turned the water off, dropped my towel and sat down in the tub, allowing the hot water and salt to soothe all the aches from the night before.

Even if the person wasn't Jason, he knew Dick and I. He knew who we were and I would assume he knew Bruce as well. "A new Batgirl?" He knew Barbara too. The only answers I could come up with were Jason or possibly Marcella spilling the beans. She seems like the secret keeping type, however, so I feel like it's Jason. My gut tells me it's Jason. But my head is rational. Jason died almost two years ago. He was a lot smaller than the man I encountered last night. He would never use guns. I sighed and shook my head, sinking further down into the water to clear my head.

* * *

Bruce went over the patrol quickly, stating that everyone was to be in the same spots as the night before. He congratulated Dick on finding the information on Black Mask before turning to go to the Batmobile. Dick looked over at me before giving Marcella a kiss and left after Bruce and Tim. A few minutes passed and I suited up and gave my earpiece to Alfred.

"I figured Dick is going to have a lot on his plate tonight. He'll need your full attention." I said to Marcella.

"Are you sure you want to go after this Red Hood fellow, Miss Lewis? It's only your second night on the job." Alfred asked.

"Yes. I need to know who he is. I have to know." I said before walking down the stairs to where the Batbike was parked. Turning the bike on, I revved the engine and sped out of the cave.

* * *

Bruce was in Park Row. Tim was in the Bowery. I decided to check the Chinatown section of Bleake Island where I knew I wouldn't encounter any run-ins with Bruce or Tim, although I know Tim would keep the secret as well. I sped towards Chinatown and ejected on top of an apartment building to overlook the section. There were some nice buildings but also some run down ones. Those would be the first I'd check.

A while passed. Bruce used to tell Tim that you would be able to tell when a building belonged to a gang because their symbol would be sprawled somewhere on the outside of the building. Black Mask was a skull, although his main base was the Steel Mill. Penguin's was a Penguin beak. Joker was a card. What would Red Hood's be? A drawing of a random helmet would take too long. Guns would be seen as too vague and would attract everyone to his position. A target? I thought and looked around. On the building across from the one I was stood atop of, there were crosshairs graffitied onto the building. I grappled over and landed on the roof.

"Alfred, I'm on top of a building in the Chinatown area of Bleake. It's an old apartment building, almost identical to all of the ones around. It's in pretty good shape. Any information?" I asked.

"Not much. All of the buildings in Chinatown are all relatively old. Depending on their owners, they're kept in immaculate condition to keep up the culture of the area." He said. "Although, one was recently sold off to an anonymous buyer. The apartment was a four story family apartment building. The three families were told to move, and the last family left two weeks ago." Alfred continued.

"I'm going to inspect this one. It looks like a four family." I said, looking over the ledge.

"Very well, Miss Lewis." I cut contact and as I turned around to inspect the rooftop, all I saw was a thug with a mohawk swinging a crowbar at my face and everything went black.

* * *

Lifting my head, I tried to move around but was stuck. I looked down and saw that I was tied to a chair. My legs were tied, my arms were zip tied behind my back and there were three men in the room. One, who I remember seeing, had a mohawk, light skin and wore a vest. His arms were hairy and he had a deep voice. The next was a darker, bald man who had a large scar on the back of his head. The third had his arms crossed, he had a gun in his hand and had a cigarette in his mouth. He was standing in a shadier part of the room so I couldn't see much about him.

"Well boys, look who's awake." The man with the gun said, walking closer to me. "Are you the little bitch that took me out last night?"

"I don't date smokers. Kind of gross. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth." I snapped, looking at him as he blew smoke in my face.

"Now is not the time to play, bitch." He said and held the pistol to the center of my head. He cocked the gun and before he could pull the trigger, a shot rang out and he was on the floor.

"What the fuck is she doing tied up?" The Red Hood said, walking into the room. "Untie her before you end up like him."

"Yes sir!" The man with the scar said and untied me from the chair. The Red Hood walked over to me and crouched down to my level.

"Who hit her?"

"I-I-I did sir. You told us you wanted her captured." The guy with the mohawk said.

"Did I tell you to give her a fucking black eye? Did I tell you to harm her?" Red Hood turned around to him. "Get out, and take that sack of shit with you, before I shoot you too." He ordered. The two men dragged the other man out and closed the door behind them. Red Hood went over and locked it and turned back towards me. "Did they hurt you?" He asked me.

"I have a fucking black eye and a migraine. Why the fuck do you care?"

"Lee…"

"No. No." I cut him off. "See, what the fuck is that? Who are you? Why are you calling me that? NO ONE CALLS ME THAT!" I yelled. He hesitated.

"You aren't ready to know."

"My fucking ass I'm not ready to know." I said and stormed towards him. He swung but I slipped behind him and pulled his helmet back.

I looked over at his helmet in my hands and then his back which was turned to me. He had black hair, and I noticed some white on the top of his head that surely went to the front. His breathing was heavy and he refused to turn around to look at me. I dropped the helmet on the floor and went to walk closer to him.

"Don't." He said. "I said you weren't ready. Get out."

"I'm not leaving. You know me. I'm knowing you before I leave this room. Whether it's by choice or force is up to you." I said, crossing my arms.

"Always the stubborn one." He sighed and turned to look at me, his arms falling at his sides. "You happy now?" I hesitated now.

"How long have you been alive, Jason?" I asked.

"How long have you thought I've been dead?" Jason responded. I walked over to him and smacked him across the face. He looked down at me and turned his mouth to a crooked smile.

"Why didn't you come home? Did you ever die? What the fuck is going on? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!?" I yelled, hitting his chest. He took hold of my arms with ease and sighed.

"There's a lot you need to know, and you'll learn over time. I did die in the factory explosion. Joker killed me. Apparently, I was stolen from the morgue at GCPD by the League of Assassins, and Ra's threw me in the Lazarus Pit. Talia helped control my emotions and when I completed that control, I returned to Gotham." He explained, letting go of my arms.

"So why come here? Why not come back to the Manor?"

"I can't go back." Jason said. "I counted on Bruce, Lee. I purposely left that alarm blaring. Bruce failed me." He said.

"Jason, you went out without him. You left your tracker. He was out for over an hour looking for you. He regrets not getting there quick enough every day." I explained, looking up at him.

"Yet he kept Joker alive. Why is that piece of shit still alive in Arkham? Why couldn't he break his precious one rule and kill him? Why couldn't he do that?" Jason said, his voice getting louder.

"I don't know the answer to that, Jason. The next few months after your death, I never left your room. I wouldn't know anything going on. You could have at least fucking told me you were alive." I said, moving away from him and over to the window.

"Lee, don't leave." He said and walked over to me. I turned and looked at him.

"Look, I won't tell anyone. But don't come after Bruce. Don't come after us. I'll keep them off of you." I explained as he shook his head.

"No, no. Not that." Jason said, scratching the back of his neck. "I just really missed seeing you. That's all."

"Well, I'm around now." I remarked, pointing to the Batgirl suit. "Bye, Jason." I sighed, jumping out the window and grappling to another building.

Taking off my mask, I sat down on the rooftop and took a deep breath, resisting the urge to cry. Jason was alive. He wanted revenge on Bruce. He wasn't the same Jason I knew, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know this Jason. I stood up after a few moments of thinking and looked down at my mask. After finding this out, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue. Jason knew I was patrolling as Batgirl now. He knew I'd be out. I turned around as I went to lift my mask to my face and noticed a pair of boots in front of me. The boots were attacked to a person in a black suit and a cape.

"Hi, Bruce."


	5. 4: Call It Fate

"How long has this been going on?!" Bruce yelled, pacing back and forth. He didn't speak to me on the roof. He took me right back to the Batcave and called a meeting. "Well?! Someone speak!"

"It's literally my second day, Bruce." I responded, my mask lying next to his on the desk.

"And you thought you could keep this from me? You thought to lie to me?" Bruce said, his voice raising.

"Bruce, it was my idea. Don't yell at her." Dick said, stepping forward. "I convinced her that I needed a little help with the Penguin and Black Mask case."

"She was no where near either of those places, Dick."

"No, but she was the one who got those photos, so I suggest you congratulate her instead of me." He fought, crossing his arms. Bruce hesitated and looked over at me.

"Is he telling the truth? Did you get that information?"

"Yeah. I did." I sighed.

"And who else in this room knew?" Bruce asked the room. Marcella raised her hand. Alfred as well.

"I'm sorry, Master Bruce." Alfred said, dropping his head.

"It's fine, Alfred." Bruce responded and then looked at me again. "I just want to know what possessed you to go against my wishes, Hailee? You know loss. So why would you potentially be another loss? Why?"

"With all due respect, Bruce, I have nothing to lose. I did this because I'm sick of being a potato in his house. I'm sick of doing the same routine every single day. I'm sick of sitting behind on the sidelines while you, Tim and Dick go out every night and risk your lives. You have too much on your plate, so if you can trust them, why can't you trust me to be a partner as well?" I asked, raising my voice.

"Because I don't want you to make the same mistakes that someone else did." Bruce said.

"Just say his fucking name, Bruce. You don't want me to pull a Jason? I'm not stupid enough to pull a Jason and go after the Joker when I'm ridiculously ill-equipped. I'm not stupid enough to go out without my tracker or help!" I yelled. "Jason made a shitty decision, Bruce. It happened two years ago. I know it's hard to get over, believe me… you have no idea. But we have bigger things happening right now. Jason is the least of our worries." I said, not sure if I was lying to Bruce or myself more.

"What were you doing in Chinatown tonight?" Bruce asked after a few moments. "None of the information you got from Black Mask led you there." I hesitated.

"I ran into complications getting that information. Someone named The Red Hood." I answered. Bruce motioned for me to continue. "He was just someone I figured we needed to investigate further if he was targeting Black Mask."

"Then starting tomorrow night, that's what you'll continue on. Now, everyone… no more secrets after tonight. You know I'll find them out anyways." Bruce said and went to change. Tim followed and Dick looked at me.

"That's got to be a record. Two days." He laughed.

"Shut up."

"Anything on him? Did you find him? I mean… I assume you did. Your eye looks like you did." He laughed, pointing at my eye.

"I'm not laughing. I'm going to have to put coverup on for weeks on this thing." I said, taking my cape off.

"If it means anything, you look like the toughest bitch I know. Super hot." Dick smiled before walking past me to change.

* * *

After changing, Alfred led me up to the kitchen to give me an ice pack so my eye didn't swell more. He told me to try to stay awake until the ice melted and tomorrow, he'd have a better look at it. I walked upstairs and to one of the smaller bathrooms, which compared to the master bathroom was still huge and looked at myself in the mirror. My eye looked like shit and while I don't condone anything Jason did tonight, I wish he would have knocked the other fucker out.

"Jason…" I sighed, shaking my head. I washed my face off with some warm water, being careful around my eye before putting the pack back on. Dick was making his way to his room and turned to look at me.

"Don't you wish you had a nice, cold brick to put on your face?" He smiled.

"You really want me to hit you again, don't you?" I asked, taking the ice pack off my eye. "Where's Marcella?"

"She went home. Just now, actually." He said, taking the ice pack out of my hand and gently held it to my eye. "Did he do this? That Hood guy? Because I'll fucking kill him."

"Good joke. Bat's don't kill."

"Too bad I'm a Robin. I'll peck his eyes out." Dick said, focusing on my eye. I looked up at him.

"He didn't do this. One of his guys did. And another held a gun to my head." I said.

"What?" Dick said, taking the ice pack away. He looked furious.

"Hood shot him. And almost shot the guy who hit me. Trust me, you're good. No killing involved." I smiled, taking the ice pack. "Get some sleep. I can take care of myself, you know. I'm Batgirl." I laughed and started to walk away.

"Hai?"

"Hm?" I turned. Dick walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

"I'm just really happy you're alright. And not dead." He said. I wrapped my arms around him.

"You trained me. I should be good. Now go get some sleep." I said and let go, walking back to my room.

* * *

Opening the door to my room, I immediately noticed that the balcony doors were open. I closed the door behind me and locked it before looking around. The bed was untouched. Everything was in place. The only thing that was different was that there was a second red rose in the vase by my bed.

"You might as well come out. Just be quiet." I said, keeping my ice pack on my eye.

"How did you know I was in here?" Jason asked, poking up from the other side of the bed.

"Because you closed the door last night. What the fuck are you doing here?" He stood up and hesitated. He didn't have his helmet on and instead of his black coat, he wore a black jacket with a red hood.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Tonight was tough an-"

"You shot someone right in front of me." I said, cutting him off.

"He almost shot you. He almost killed you, Lee!" Jason said, his voice getting louder.

"You could have hit me! And on top of that, you killed! You're a murderer!"

"Okay, well… I didn't hit you." He shrugged.

"You're unbelievable." I said, walking over to the balcony doors. "Get out." I demanded.

"No. This is my room. You just took over."

"Jason…" He smiled and walked over to me.

"Look. You can't even tell me that you haven't missed me. That you haven't missed me standing right in front of you, in this very room. Before lying next to you in that bed right there. You can't lie to me." He said, his voice turning serious.

"I did miss you. And now you're back. And I don't like what you've become."

"I'm the same, Lee. Really."

"You want to kill Bruce for not killing the Joker. At least that is what I'm getting from what you told me." I said.

"Well…" Jason hesitated. "You aren't wrong. I do want revenge on Bruce. And I would love nothing more than to kill him for not killing the Joker, but if I really wanted that the most, I wouldn't be in your room, I would have broken into his and killed him already. I'm here because I want to be around you." He explained. "Think of this as off patrol time. I'm not in my suit and you aren't in yours."

"There's a sexual reference there, I'm sure."

"See! Haven't changed a bit." He smiled. "Please, Lee. Just let me explain. Hear me out." I thought about it for a few moments and sighed.

"Jason, maybe another night. I'm exhausted. And traumatized. And I just want to forget tonight." I shrugged.

"So that's a no." He said and put his hood on.

"No. That's a prove to me that you care." I explained. He walked past me to leave but turned to look back.

"I'll see you soon?" He asked. I nodded and as I went to close the balcony doors, he held one back and stood in front of me. I looked up at him as he moved the ice pack from my eye and studied the mark one of his guys had made. He sighed and bent down, placing a light kiss on the area right under my eye before jumping into the tree and out of Wayne Manor.

* * *

The next morning, Alfred woke me up with some breakfast in bed and some more ice. He made me some pancakes, bacon and some hash browns with a big glass of orange juice and a cup of lemon tea with some extra honey. Dick offered to stay in with me for the day and replace my ice as it melted. He brought up all of the information from the cave on the Black Mask and Penguin cases so we could review them as well as a few movies from his room.

"So before we go over any of this, I figured we could talk about what happened last night with this hood guy." Dick suggested as he got a pen and a piece of paper to take notes.

"This really can't wait until I'm done with breakfast, huh?" I asked with a mouthful of pancakes.

"Nope!" He said, clicking the pen open. "So, how'd you find him?"

"His buildings all have crosshairs on them. Like Penguin's sites have the beaks. I just looked for something that could apply to him. He shot three men at the Steel Mill, so I assumed something with guns." I shrugged, taking a sip of juice.

"Where the hell did you learn that?" Dick asked, writing everything down.

"Do you listen to Bruce's conversations at all?"

"No, which probably explains why I'm in Blüdhaven." He looked at my dish and took a small piece of bacon.

"Hey!"

"Nope, no hay. Just bacon. Now moving on. How did you get caught?" He asked, eating the bacon.

"I was in contact with Alfred, went to turn around and got hit. That's all I remember."

"And when you woke up?"

"I was zip tied to a chair and three guys were around me. My mask was still on. One tried to intimidate and then shoot me but Hood got to him first. Then ordered the other guys to get out of the room and take the dead one with them." I said, eating some potatoes before going back to my pancakes.

"And after? Bruce told me he found you on a rooftop with your mask taken off and you were crying." I hesitated.

"I got punched in the eye and almost died. Sorry, I was a little on edge." I looked over at him.

"Hai, there's something more. Did you find out who this guy is?" Dick asked.

"No. He never told me. I never saw his face." I lied.

"Alright. Hopefully we find out soon. If this guys knows who we are, I'm sure he knows Bruce too. He has to." Dick said, putting the pad down.

"Hopefully." I said and finished my food. The rest of the day, he changed my ice and we watched some movies as I looked through the Penguin and Black mask case files. Night was fast approaching and we needed to get ready for patrol.

* * *

We ate a quick meal that Alfred made and went down to the cave to suit up. Marcella was at her post and talking to Dick. Alfred was going over things with Tim and Bruce at the police scanner. I was finishing equipping my belt while thinking of Jason the whole time. How would I face him tonight? How would I look at him?

"Alright. Patrol list. Dick, Penguin and Black Mask. Hailee, Red Hood." Bruce said and I nodded. "Tim, pay close attention to the Two-Face case. I'm needed at Arkham immediately. Apparently, more of Joker's guys have gotten out." Bruce said and walked over to the Batmobile.

"Master Bruce, wait!" Alfred yelled after him. "Some of his men have escaped Blackgate as well." He said.

"I'll go to Blackgate, Bruce." I yelled down. "Red Hood can wait. This is more important."

"These are big guys, Hailee." Bruce explained.

"They aren't the Joker."

"But they work for him. Be careful." He said and got into the car. I jumped on the bike and revved the engine before zooming out of the cave en route to Blackgate Prison.

* * *

The outside of Blackgate was a mess. A car on fire, things were turned over… how many men broke out, exactly? I spoke to some of the security who were outside. Apparently, six of the thirty men in Joker's gang broke out. Without knowing the number for Arkham, that's eight killers on the loose in Gotham. What were they planning?

"Any ideas where they could have gone?" I asked one of the security guards.

"No clue. For all we kn-" He was cut off by a gunshot to the head and I turned to see three of the six men around me.

"Think boss would love to know there's a new Bat in town?" One said. He was tall, built and had light skin with an arm full of tattoos.

"Oh, she's cute and curvy too." The second said. He was slightly shorter, had a shaved head and light skin as well.

"Maybe he'd even ditch Harley." Said the third. He held the gun, had a bald head and a crooked nose.

"Too bad he'll never know there's a new Bat because you're not going to be telling him." I said before quickly throwing a batarang at the gun to make the fight more even. The guys charged at me and begun throwing their fists. They were definitely stronger, but I was faster. Blocking them was easy but they got a few hits in. I knocked one out and then two were left, but one hit the back of my knee and brought me to the ground. He held my arms behind me while the other got the gun and held it to my head.

"See, Joker doesn't like rodents who get in the way of his plans. So maybe it's time to kill one." He said, cocking the gun. A shot rang out and both men fell, being hit through the head. I stood up and looked down. The shot went through one person's head and through the other.

"Are you alright?!" I turned around to see Jason putting his gun away, seeming out of breath.

"How the hell did you know I was here?"

"You really think I don't know what goes on? I knew Batman would pick Arkham. I knew someone needed to come here." He said, looking at me. "Did they hurt you?"

"No. Thank you. I have to go now." I turned away to leave.

"Lee!" He said and followed me. "Please just hear me out…"

"You killed again. Nothing to hear."

"To protect you! Are you really that brainwashed on your third night? Really? I only use these guns if I fucking have to. And if I see the one person I care about about to be killed, I'm going to kill the fucker that's going to take her from me!" He yelled.

"You still shouldn't, Jason. You're trying to convince me that you're the same Jason, but that Jason wouldn't kill."

"For himself, no. To save people, yes. I would have killed Joker then if it meant saving Bruce, Alfred… Gotham. I would have. But I was under his code. Now I'm not. But I was not about to sit back and watch Joker's men put a bullet between your eyes." He explained.

"Could have thrown me in the pit." I said, lifting my leg over the bike.

"I wouldn't. I'd let you rest in peace. You think that pit was fabulous? I'm fucking damaged, Lee."

"So you aren't the same, then." I started the bike.

"I still care about you. More than I told you two years ago. Did you really think that was all play?" Jason said, taking me off guard. "And I know it was more than play for you. Because I know my toys when I see one. And that's mine." He pointed to the bike. "You kept everything of mine. My room. My clothes. My bike. I'll assume my suit is in the Cave. I know you care about me Lee, so why are you lying?" I glared up at him and revved the bike before zooming away from him and Blackgate prison.


	6. 5: Couldn't Bear Another Day Without You

Driving back into the Cave, I stopped short and parked the bike in its proper spot. Turning the bike off, I took a deep breath and sat there for a few moments to gather my thoughts of everything that had happened at Blackgate. Three of the six men were dead thanks to Jason and then everything he had said made me very unthankful. Or was I thankful? Sighing, I got off the bike and walked up the steps to the monitor area. Dick and Tim were there, out of their suits and back in their regular clothes.

"Where's Bruce?" I asked Tim.

"Still at Arkham. Things don't seem to be going well. He told Gordon that he wanted to do a full inspection of the security system to make sure no one on the inside could get Joker out… or at least stall it until we're more prepared." Tim explained.

"No offense to Bruce, that was always Barbara's thing and she always needed to do it on hand. He could be there until the morning." I said.

"Well it's a good thing you're still in your suit, Mini-Babs." Dick smiled and motioned for me to turn around and go back to my bike.

"You're joking me."

"You want to sleep, because I do. We don't sleep until Bruce gets back, so go work some of your little bat magic and get home so I can go dream of sex with my girlfriend."

"She's right there…" Tim turned to look at Dick. I sighed and turned to walk back down the stairs to my bike.

"Hai, wait up!" Dick yelled behind me. "Be careful. Please. Arkham is worse than Blackgate. The crazy ones are there."

"They're as sane as I am after tonight." I smiled, threw my leg over the bike and started it up. "Try not to make the cave too messy while I'm gone." Dick laughed and nodded as I left the Cave for a second time that night.

* * *

Arkham Asylum was morbid and eerie. My bike was parked outside of the Intensive Treatment building where Joker was locked… somewhere. They were boosting the security of this building as a focus, since most of his men were here as well. One of the security guards walked me to where Commissioner Gordon and Bruce were standing, studying the mess that was made out of the security system.

"Well, what if you connected those two wires? We need to get this back up tonight, Batman." Gordon said. I stayed silent and crossed my arms.

"That wouldn't work. We need to make it stronger." Bruce responded.

"Then maybe you should have called the hacking genius in." I said, causing both men to turn around.

"You're supposed to be at Blackgate, Batgirl." Bruce said.

"Six men out, three killed. Three got away. Now move so I can fix your mess." I said and bumped him out of the way. Inspecting the wires, I sighed and shook my head. "You fucked this up big time. I need some pliers, electrical tape, copper wiring and whatever computer system this is attached to."

Gordon told the Arkham staff to get me everything I needed and once they returned, I was able to fix the mess of wires and change a few of the ones that Bruce had messed up. I then turned my attention to the computer, where I looked up the strength of the security system.

"This system has a four tier level. Kind of like your average video game: easy, normal, hard, expert. This just uses some more adult words. Right now, Arkham has it on the hard stage. This is an insane asylum, why would it not be on the highest tier?" I looked at Gordon.

"I'm not sure. Maybe whoever is helping Joker's men escape is the one who changed it?"

"Then we need to restaff this room with whichever GCPD officers you trust. I'm putting this on tier four and with the new wiring, it should be difficult. We need a password only one person will have access to. Gordon, you can come up with that." I said and gave him access to type it in.

"Good job tonight, Batgirl." Bruce said and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Can we go home now? I want to sleep. Blackgate was tough tonight." I whispered to him.

"Need to talk?" He asked. I shook my head and turned around to leave.

* * *

We returned to the Cave where everyone was still awake. Marcella had gone home, Barbara had been picked up at the Clock Tower to return home by Alfred, leaving Dick and Tim in charge of the Cave.

"I'm shocked it's not a mess." I said as I walked back up the stairs, taking my mask off.

"We're clean people!" Dick yelled and took a drink out of a water bottle.

"We're as in me." Tim said and unlocked my case before going over to Bruce's. I took my cape off and hung it up.

"Everything good at Arkham now?" Dick asked Bruce.

"Yes. Hailee really did a good job in both places. Wish we could have caught the ones who got away. Two from Arkham, three from Blackgate. That's seven with the other two. That's seven too many." Bruce said.

"We'll get them Bruce. A lot is going on in Gotham right now. It's a lot for four people to handle." Tim said. I took off my utility belt and listened to the conversation as Dick came up behind me to unzip the back of my suit.

"I know. But we need to step our game up for the next few weeks. Maybe I can see if Lucius can have some new things for each of us to help us out on the streets. I'll talk to him tomorrow. For now, let's get changed, get upstairs and get ready for bed." Bruce said before walking off to change.

After changing out of the Batgirl suit and into my t-shirt and sweatpants from before, I walked alongside Dick as Tim and Bruce walked ahead. Alfred was in the kitchen, making each of us a cup of tea before bed.

"How was patrol, Master Bruce?" He asked.

"Good. Hailee was the star of the night." I smiled.

"It was just some wires." I insisted, taking my cup of tea from Alfred.

We all drank our tea and talked about patrol that night and what we could do to improve our efforts on the Gotham streets. Alfred said that he's been working on some blueprints and he could send them over to Lucius in the morning to see if any new gadgets could go into the prototype stage. Alfred likes for all of us to have something our own, like Bruce's REC gun. Tim's gun shield that comes out of his staff, the electrical charges that come out of Dick's sticks and the charge that comes out of my gloves. All of those were thoughts from Alfred to make each Bat unique, although they come alive thanks to Lucius' genius.

After talking about the gadgets for a while, we finished our tea and decided that it was time to try to sleep. We walked to our rooms, congratulated one another on a good night of patrol and went our separate ways. I opened my door and closed it behind me. The double doors were closed, however the room was a mess of rose petals. They were scattered on the bed and the floor. Jason sat on the edge of the bed, waiting.

"What the hell?" I looked around.

"Too much?" Jason asked, standing up. He wasn't in his Red Hood getup from earlier in the night. He wore black jeans, a black shirt and a black jacket. He didn't look dangerous, he actually looked like he used to.

"A bit. Yeah." I crossed my arms.

"Well, what else was I supposed to do? I know I upset you earlier, although I was telling the truth. I just figured this would be… nice?" He said, holding his arms out to the bed of rose petals.

"You pissed me off. You don't remember how to make that better?" He hesitated.

"Well… no." He said, looking at the ground. "I told you I was still the same person, an-"

"Jason, you don't even remember things that I like and dislike. Rose petals?" I cut him off. He didn't take his eyes off the ground. "They're beautiful. But I much prefer to look at them. Not lie on them." I said, walking over to him.

"I'll start cleaning them up." He turned and went to clean them off the bed.

"No! See, this is it. You aren't the same person. What would you do if I said that two years ago? Y'know… pre-death?"

"We probably would have just went to the other room and did it." Jason laughed.

"No. You would have told me to get the fuck over it and would have done it here."

"So… is that a 'yes you forgive me and are ready to love me again'?"

"No."

"Oh."

"But… you did put effort. So, this could be a small start. A tiny one." I said, holding two fingers close together.

"I can accept that." Jason said, looking down at me.

I looked up at him. His eyes were still blue, his hair was still black; even though the white streak at the front made him look more rugged than usual. He had scars on his face, probably from the Pit. As I studied him, I hadn't noticed my hand traveling along the small marks on his face. They weren't visible, but I noticed them. I had studied his face too long in the past and in old photos that I knew they were never there.

"What did that Pit do to you?" I whispered, my fingers trailing along his jawline.

"Ra's thought he was doing the right thing. As much as he hates Bruce, he respects Bruce. He knew my death would kill him, so as opposed to letting me rest in peace, he threw me in. The scars are from scratching myself as I was coming out." He explained. "The Pit makes you feel like your skin is crawling. Like you're being reborn with a new layer of radioactive nonsense. It's painful. It burns like acid, yet the second you step out… you're fine. Your mind is fried, but physically, you're okay."

"And that's why Talia kept you for 2 years? To fix your mind?" I asked.

"To calm it. To train it."

"To kill Bruce?"

"No, that's on me. Talia would never put that in my head. I resent him, yes. But right now, my first focus isn't him. It's keeping you safe and killing Joker." He said, placing his forehead against mine. "I'm not going to let you hurt because of him anymore."

"But every person you kill hurts me, Jason. I don't want you stooping to his level. Please."

"I told you, I only use the guns if I need to. If you don't want me to use them around you, I won't. But that doesn't mean I won't use them, okay?" Jason suggested. I sighed.

"Fine." I said, pulling my head away from his and shifted my eyes to his. "You should go. I need to clean this up so no one sees it in the morning." He stared down at me and before moving away, pressed his lips to mine quickly. The kiss was seconds, but felt like an eternity. He pulled away and I found myself not wanting him to.

"Goodnight, Lee." He said, walking out of the double doors and out of the Manor.

"Goodnight."

* * *

The next night, I was back on patrol of the Red Hood. I knew exactly where to go, exactly what to do, but everyone wanted info on who he was and I knew that already. Jason was right when he said we weren't ready, because they aren't.

I stood on top of his building in Chinatown and looked out at the scenery before his men arrived. All five were all ready to fight, but I just stood there and looked at all of them.

"Why isn't she scared? Or beating us up?" The middle one asked.

"Because she knows that if you guys touch her, I'm going to kill you when she's not looking." Jason said, coming up behind them. "Get out. Go make yourselves useful and track more of Black Mask's drugs in this sector of the city. I've got business to attend to." He said, walking over to me. His men left and Jason made sure he heard the door close behind them before taking his helmet off and placed it on the ground. "Why are you here?"

"I've got to kill time. You're my patrol until I come up with some excuse to tell Bruce. I can't be seen around the city while everyone is on patrol."

"So… you still came here." He smirked. "Was the kiss that good?"

"Okay, I'm leaving." I said and went to turn.

"I'm just joking! I know I can do better than that. That kiss was only a peck. A little tease." Jason said.

"Yeah, you got that right." My eyes widened.

"What was that?" He said, moving closer to me.

"Shut up."

"Fine. So what should we do to kill time until you have to be back? My porn stash isn't so great. I'm new in town, y'know? Just a little baby." Jason said, walking around the rooftop.

"You're a mess. I'll just say I couldn't find you. I'm going back." I said and stood on the ledge of the roof.

"Lee…" He sighed before walking over to the ledge. We were eye level this way. His hands found their way to my hips and they fit perfectly under the utility belt. My hands rested on his forearms as our foreheads pressed together. He nudged his nose against mine and without thinking, I pressed my lips to his. The kiss was longer than last night and quickly went from innocent to needed. My arms found their way around his neck and he took me off the ledge and held me tighter. I broke the kiss and looked up at him, my fingers slowly trailing over his bottom lip. "Don't go."

"I have to. I can't stay here."

"But you want to." He sighed. "Just tell me you want to."

"Here? No. With you, like this?" I hesitated. "Yeah." He smiled.

"I'll see you tomorrow night?" Jason asked.

"Knowing you, I'll see you after patrol." I laughed and pulled away before running to the ledge to jump off the roof.


	7. 6: These Nights Never Seem To Go To Plan

The next night came quickly. Alfred had sent over blueprints for new gadgets to be put in the prototype stage for Bruce, Dick, Tim and I. Barbara was looking into the security feeds at Arkham while Marcella looked into the security at Blackgate. We were all working like an oiled machine, yet no one knew of a secret I was hiding. My suspect was a former Robin; a Robin who wanted to kill Bruce.

I put my batsuit on and slid my gloves onto my hands as Dick zipped up the back of the suit. I made sure the charges on my gloves worked and put all of the necessary gadgets I needed into the slots on my utility belt before putting everything on. The black boots went up to my knees and I made sure they were tied tightly before hooking the buckles that were on them. Last was the cape and my mask.

"Patrol list for the night!" Bruce called as we gathered around. "Dick, Penguin and Black Mask. Tim, capitalize on Two-Face. Hailee, I need you at Blackgate. We're transferring Joker's men to Arkham with the new security system. I'm going to be at Arkham to meet." We all nodded and took our earpieces. I was with Alfred tonight. He went over the game-plan with me and wished me luck as I went to my bike and drove out of the Batcave.

* * *

I arrived to Blackgate where there were a number of SWAT trucks lined up. Security officers and SWAT guys were already ushering Joker's men into the trucks. I got off the bike and walked over to Warden Joseph as a few of Joker's guys whistled.

"New Bat in town?" asked the Warden.

"Yes. What's the damage?"

"Thirty of these men are entirely loyal to Joker. Twenty do small jobs for him and are loyal to others."

"So fifty in total."

"Including the ones that escaped the other night, yes. But only the loyal ones are being transferred." He explained. I nodded and stood watch as five men were loaded into each truck.

"We're ready, Batgirl. Follow behind the last truck and we'll meet up with Batman on the island." said one of the SWAT officers. I got on my bike and followed the last truck as it left.

Arkham Asylum was on the other side of Gotham, so the drive was going to be long. The streets weren't clear, but citizens knew that a line of six armored trucks and a bat were enough to get them to move. My job was to make sure nothing suspicious happened on the transfer route. Alfred was following my position on radar at the cave and said that no threats were being detected. Bruce was waiting on Arkham. In the back of my head, I knew Jason would be close. I didn't show up for patrol, so he'd go looking. We arrived at Arkham and the six trucks parked. I parked my bike next to the batmobile and guarded the trucks as the SWAT officers ushered the men in.

"Is that all of them?" Bruce said, approaching me.

"Kind of? Warden Joseph said there were twenty more back at Blackgate who did mostly small jobs for Joker, but I still thought we were bringing them all over…" I said, crossing my arms.

"Suspicious. Maybe after this, I'll pay Warden Joseph a visit. All of them should be here. That security system is practically flawless." He stated.

"What should I do after this? Back to the cave? Red Hood? Free roam?" I asked.

"Head back for the night, Batgirl. Get some sleep. You've been very on the run for your first week. I don't want you to get burned out." I nodded and waited until all of the men were ushered into the Asylum before getting on my bike to leave.

* * *

I arrived back to the cave in no time and was back before anyone else. I took my mask off as I walked up the steps to the monitors and took out my earpiece. Marcella, Barbara and Alfred looked at me with confused faces.

"What? Does my black eye still look that gross?"

"You're back really early…" Barbara said.

"Yeah, Bruce told me to head back and go to sleep since I've been returning to the cave late every night. Said he didn't want to burn me out." I shrugged.

"Meaning it's a slow night and expect hell soon. Something tells me Bruce is not comfortable with all of these guys in Arkham. Your security system is tight, but Joker always finds a way." Barbara explained, looking back at her monitor as she pulled up all of the information on the security. I took my cape and utility belt off and hung it up in my case before walking up behind her.

"So basically, Bruce is expecting a breakout?"

"A huge one. A deadly one. You have to figure sixty of his men, plus Harley, plus other crime lords that he could bribe… as well as corrupt people working in the Asylum."

"Joker could be out in no time." Marcella added.

"Well then we just need to be on our toes and ready." I said and went to change out of the batsuit. I changed into my lounge clothes from the evening and hung the suit up, placing the boots and gloves in with it before closing the case.

"Would you like a cup of tea before bed, Miss Lewis?" Alfred asked.

"No thank you, Alfred. I'm just going to change into some pajamas and shockingly do what Bruce wants. A night of sleep could do some wonders for me." I said and gave him a hug as well as Barbara and Marcella before heading out of the cave and through the Manor.

* * *

The Manor was quiet when no one was around. Some lights were on, but it still made the area uncomfortable. I should have asked Alfred to walk with me, but it was too late to go back and ask now. Going up the stairs, I quickly walked to my room and opened the door before closing and locking it behind me. My heart was racing like it used to when I was in the orphanage and needed to use the bathroom; there were no lights in the hall and I always thought someone was going to come out and scare me or when I was younger, there were monsters.

I flipped the switch to turn the lights on in my room and went over to my dresser to pick out something to wear for bed. Shifting through the clothes, I decided on an oversized t-shirt with some faded cartoon characters on it and took my shirt off over my head to put the new one on. I slipped my sweatpants down my legs and walked over to the bed to pull the covers down. Sitting on the bed, I extended my legs under the sheets and pulled them up to cover my body. I got comfortable and let myself drown in my thoughts for the night.

Would Joker really be able to get out? Are there people at Arkham that Bruce didn't trust? Why wouldn't he speak up about it and get them out? Should we have put all of his men together? I took a deep sigh and turned the light on the side table that I had flipped the switch on off as I tried to doze off and sleep. As I tossed and turned, I heard a knock on the balcony doors. I lifted my head and saw Jason looking in. Pulling the covers off me, I slowly got up and groggily walked to the doors to open them.

"You didn't show up tonight, I got worried." He said, pulling me to his body.

"I had to be at Blackgate and Arkham. Bruce sent me back early because he wanted me to get some rest." I explained, too tired to pull away from him.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I'll leave. I see how tired you are." He said.

"Nah, you can stay. I'll just fall asleep and then trust you to not murder anyone on the way out."

"I didn't bring my guns, so how could I?" He said as I walked to the bed.

"I know you know how to kill, Jason. Let's not get into this talk." I said, getting back under the covers. Jason sat down on the side of the bed closest to the balcony, kicked his shoes off and took his jacket off and placed them all on the floor. I looked up at him and he turned his head to look at me.

"What?"

"Just promise me when you leave me in the middle of the night this time, you don't leave any alarms blaring." I mumbled. He sighed and turned away, taking a few moments to think. Taking his shirt off and throwing it on the floor, he got under the covers and turned to face me.

"Who says I'm leaving tonight?" He said as my eyes opened a little.

"Jason, you can't stay. Alf-"

"Alfred gets up at 6:30 every morning. I will make sure I'm gone by then, I promise. No one will know. I won't pull any funny business. I'm staying right next to you." He stated, turning onto his back. "Now, go to sleep. Bruce isn't wrong. You need to be well rested." I sighed and moved closer to him, wrapping my arms around his and placed my head on his shoulder. Jason turned his head and pressed his lips to my forehead before pulling away to look down at me. "I really do miss you, you know. I don't know. I just find myself thinking about you a lot. I think about the night and the next time I'll get to see you, and then if I don't, I get worried something happened and I wasn't there to help."

"Why do you worry about helping me so much?"

"Because, Lee. I went out that night to get Joker… not for glory or Bruce's approval. I was in my fucking glory. I was going out every night and protecting Gotham. If I hadn't had Bruce's approval, he wouldn't have made me Robin. I went out to get the Joker because I was sick and tired of him torturing the people I was swearing to protect, namely you. He took everything from you. I wanted to get rid of him for good so you would feel safe. I failed that. I'm sorry." Jason explained.

"You know, you wouldn't have failed if you waited or asked Bruce."

"I wanted to do it alone. I wanted you to see me as more than just Robin." He said, looking up at the ceiling.

"Jason, I already did see you as more than just Robin. You made me feel safe every night, even with Joker out on the streets. You didn't need to do anything like that to get my approval, you already had it." I said, looking over at him.

"I just wanted to be better for you. I still do."

"Well, you know how to do that. You won't do that. But you know how." I said and got myself comfortable before getting ready to sleep. "Goodnight, Jason."

"Goodnight, Lee."

I woke up the next morning to the sun shining in my eyes. Jason had already left and the clock read 10:30 AM. I sat up and stretched my body before looking around the room. A piece of paper was leaning against the vase on his side. I leaned over to get it and opened it.

 _"Lee, kind of realized how douchey it was of me to get you in bed before the third date… or the second… or the first even. So maybe we could change that? Hopefully you're on patrol in my area so we can. - Jason. PS: you drooled on my shoulder and I didn't complain. If that's not love, I don't know what is."_ Shaking my head, I got out of bed with a smile and placed the note on my side of the table, suddenly excited for tonight's patrol.

* * *

The time for patrol came and I was the first one ready. I blamed the early rest for my overbearing excitement to start the night off and looked over some papers as everyone else got ready at their stations.

"Zip me up?" Dick said, coming over to me. I zipped his suit up and patted him on the back before he turned to look at me. "Everything alright? I've seen you go to bed early a million times and you still wake up a zombie and go through the day… zombieish."

"I'm just happy to move on from some of this Joker stuff. Keep investigating Red Hood, hopefully. Going back to square one." I explained.

"Promise?" Dick asked.

"Promise." Which, I did. I wasn't lying. Hopefully all this Joker nonsense would be behind us and we could all focus more on Gotham's Most Wanted.

"Patrol list! Dick, the usual. Hailee, Red Hood. Tim, you're with me tonight, Riddler is causing chaos. Good job on getting Two-Face as well." Bruce said before heading down to the car. I took my earpiece, being with Alfred again and went to my bike, speeding out of the cave and onto the Gotham streets.

* * *

I landed atop Jason's building where he was sitting down, waiting for me with his helmet on. None of his guys were out. He took his helmet off and gave me a smile before standing to walk over to me.

"I see I was your mission." He said with a smirk.

"You're so full of yourself." I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"Did you get my note?" I nodded. "And?"

"How would we go on a date. Let's just walk into a restaurant dressed up like this. We'll get no attention at all." I said.

"Ha-ha, smart ass. No, We wouldn't be going out like this. I figured we could go out before patrol. Something small and lowkey. Nothing fancy, because let's be real… I'm not fancy." He explained.

"Well, what if I wanted something fancy?" I said, crossing my arms.

"Lee…"

"It's a first date, Jason. You got to impress me, because the more you impress me, the more likely you are to get perks."

"Perks?"

"Yeah, like a kiss on the cheek… maybe I'll win you a teddy bear at a carnival or something." I shrugged. He smiled and looked down.

"None of that is fancy."

"Jason, are you going to ask me on a date or not?" He sighed and looked up before biting down on his lip and then looking at me.

"Right, uhm. Okay. Hailee, would you go on a date with me tomorrow night?" I hesitated.

"Hm, well… I'm gonna have to get back to you." I joked.

"Lee!" I started laughing and nodded my head.

"I love fucking with you. Yes. I'll go." He sighed and shook his head, smiling down at me.

"You know how to hit me right where it hurts and I hate you for it sometimes." I smiled.

"I just love knowing that I'm your weakness."

"You are, you little shit." Jason said, crossing his arms. "Now get off my roof."

"Let me know where I'm meeting you, okay?"

"You'll know by the morning." He said, giving me a wink before picking his helmet up off the ground.

"Good. See you tomorrow then." I smiled and went over to the ledge, ready to jump.

"Lee?" He called out after me. I turned to look at him. "Just so I don't fuck anything up… you weren't joking about the fancy thing, were you?" He asked. I looked down and looked back at him.

"Jason, anywhere you take me will be good enough. I just need advanced notice for fancy since I'll need to know how to dress." I shrugged.

"Dress nice." He said before walking to the door. "Goodnight, Lee." I turned back towards the buildings in front of me and jumped with one thought only in my head - where the fuck am I going to find something nice to wear?


	8. 7: Time To Impress

I reentered the BatCave right after my patrol, still wondering how this date with Jason was going to work. My mind wasn't completely on the task at hand and I hadn't thought up a good lie to tell everyone tonight about a lack of Red Hood information. The entire purpose of my investigation was to do simply that – investigate. If I didn't start thinking things up to report that projected us further, Bruce would take me off the case and take it upon himself; something I did not want for risk of Jason being revealed or bigger risk of Jason killing Bruce.

As I got off my bike and walked up the steps to the monitors, I noticed Marcella was still focused on her earpiece and Alfred was busily typing away. He was clearly helping Barbara with some hacking job. I went and opened my case. There were a few spare batarangs, a spare pair of gloves and a keypad that when the correct code was entered would produce a new suit that Alfred had in the prototype stage and didn't want me to see. I took my cape off and my cowl and hung them on their appropriate hooks. Unbuckling my utility belt, I placed a few of the spare batarangs in their slots and hung that as well.

"Need a zip?" Marcella asked as she approached me. I turned to look at her in her flowing green skirt and black button down shirt. The idea was almost instant.

"A zip... and potentially a favor?" I mumbled, pulling my hair to rest over my right shoulder.

"Oh boy, what type of favor?" She asked as she went behind me and unzipped my suit. I slid through the fabrics and looked at her, my tank top damp with sweat marks.

"A fashion type favor. My... friend wants to meet up for lunch... dinner... tomorrow and I need something nice to wear." I explained, realizing that Jason still hadn't told me where we were going. How nice was I supposed to dress? He only said to dress nicely... nothing more.

"Is this a guy friend? It sounds like a guy friend." Marcella questioned, crossing her arms as I sat down on the floor and unbuckled my boots.

"It's a friend, Marcella. Can you dress me up or not?"

"Goodness, all you Bats with the mystery." She joked and realized I wasn't laughing. "Oh, sure why the fuck not. I'll come over early tomorrow morning with some things I don't wear anymore." She smiled and went to go back to the monitors.

"Oh! Marcella!" I shouted a little too loudly. She turned, looking startled. "Don't tell Dick. He gets protective and I don't want him knowing too much. The less questions the better." I requested. She nodded with a smile and sat back down in her seat, getting back to work.

I placed my boots in the case and shimmied out of the tight suit, placing it in its proper grove in the case and shut the door. Picking up my sweatpants that I left on the table next to the cases, I slid and hopped into the fabric as I pulled it up my legs. Shifting my eyes to look at the monitors, I noticed that the night was pretty quiet and that everyone else would be back soon enough.

"Hey Alfred?" I approached. He turned his head and looked at me.

"Miss Lewis, is everything okay?" He questioned.

"Oh! Yes, I just wanted to report because I'd like to take a bath and Dick takes forever in the bathroom. Trying to get the opportunity first." I smiled.

"How many bathrooms are in this place?" Marcella laughed. I looked at her and placed my hands on my hips.

"The bathroom I like has the big bathtub. And Dick always tries to use that one so I want to beat him to it." I explained as Marcella laughed more. Alfred chuckled and nodded.

"What's the report then? Anything on him at all?"

"The guy is a mystery." I lied. "I'm trying to get close and be sneaky but it's hard." He nodded and dismissed me, but not before asking if I needed a billion different things for my bath. Denying everything, insisting I knew where it all was, he smiled and returned to his work.

I took the elevator out of the BatCave and walked through the manor to the other side, where my room was. I went in and picked out a fresh pair of pajama shorts with a pink plaid pattern and an oversized black t-shirt. With my clothes in hand, I looked around my room before leaving to the bright bathroom. The floor and walls were all white tiles with shiny flecks of silver on the surface. There were two sinks that you could probably fit a small child in, a shower that you could fit the entire Batman crew in and a bath that could most likely fit six of me.

Stripping down from the clothes I was wearing, I set the lights to dim on the controls and started up the hot water as it began to fill the tub. My muscles were on fire since starting the most physical job in the world, so I threw a heaping amount of Epsom salt into the water along with some eucalyptus oil to relieve all the stress that came with it. Since Jason had come back, my mind was constantly racing and although on the outside I seemed relaxed, I never was.

When the water filled the bathtub halfway, I stepped in and sat down, letting the water fill the rest. I scrubbed my hair with shampoo and conditioner and ran my head under the faucet like I used to at the orphanage. Old habits don't really die. Then, I grabbed a pouf from the side and some apple smelling body wash and began to clean my body, noticing a new bruise with every scrub. After I finished cleaning myself, I let the pouf soak in the water and turned off the faucet and relaxed my body.

So many thoughts went through my head; like how could I continue to keep Jason this huge secret? It didn't feel right to keep this from everyone, especially Bruce who had given me so much since I've been here. How could I keep this secret from Alfred, the man who takes care of this group of people he loves dearly, yet silently mourns for Jason. What about Barbara? What about Dick? He could always be welcome back but what if he really is too far gone?

I sat in the bath water until my fingers began to wrinkle and decided that was my time to step out. I pulled the drain on the bath and dried myself off before putting on my pajamas, tying my wet hair in a bun and placing the dirty clothes down the hamper chute. I brushed my teeth, did my skin routine and left the bathroom to my room.

"You look like a leopard." Dick remarked, walking towards the bathroom I had just left.

"And here I thought we were bats!" I turned on my heel to look at him, crossing my arms in the process.

"Eventually, your body will get used to it. You're doing great, Hai. Bruce is always going to be a little on the fence, but we're all really proud of you." He smiled. I smiled back.

"Thank you. Now go shower. You smell, and I want to sleep." I laughed as he rolled his eyes and went to my room, closing and locking the door behind me.

Everything was the same as I had left it, except on my bed there was a small piece of paper with an address on it. _626 New Gotham Avenue. 6:00. Dress nice._ I arched my brow and looked up the address on my phone. It was an Italian place named Silvio's. Not super fancy, but not a jeans and a t-shirt type of place either. I'd have to really look through Marcella's choices, and I may need to have her do my makeup to cover up the bruises and my almost healed black eye as well as drive me to the place. I shook my head and placed the paper on my side table before laying down to fall asleep.

The sun shone into my room around seven and I did not want to wake up. My body was sore, but not as sore as it had been the first few days. I checked my phone to see if I had any messages and to just kill time so I could stay in bed. Marcella had sent me a text when she got home the night before telling me she'd be here at ten with a few good outfits, her makeup bag and shoes, just because she felt me wearing sneakers wouldn't be appropriate. I knew I'd get questions from her today so I sighed and checked some news websites since I hadn't stayed around for the report of the night.

Two-Face was captured by Tim and put into Arkham. He'd go on trial in a month. Blüdhaven news was always sporadic so I'd just have to ask Dick about what happened. They'd never mention anything about Joker or his men while Joker was put away in hopes that the world would forget about him. No one ever forgot about him, but no words of his escape were anywhere.

I hopped out of bed at nine and went downstairs where Alfred was finishing making pancakes and Dick was finishing up eating about three or four of them. Bruce was sitting at the island in the kitchen next to Dick and finishing a cup of coffee, ready to go to Wayne Enterprises once he finished. Tim was looking at his phone, drinking a cup of coffee as he stared at the screen. I took a seat next to Dick and grabbed a plate from the middle of the island.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Dick elbowed me, his mouth full of pancakes. I shook my head and laughed tiredly.

"Good morning, slob." I responded, hearing Tim let out a quiet chuckle. Alfred walked over and put some fresh pancakes on my plate and turned the stovetop off.

"Did you have a nice sleep, Miss Lewis?" He asked and I nodded as I took some pieces of bacon from the plate on the island and placed them on my plate, taking a bite of one.

As I ate my breakfast, Alfred drove Bruce over to Wayne Enterprises, Tim retreated to his room to get some more sleep and Dick waited for me to finish. I checked the time just as there was a knock at the door and Dick left to answer. I knew it was Marcella and I hoped Dick wouldn't question it too much as to why she was here so early.

"So all those boxes are for you?" Dick poked his head into the kitchen as I finished putting my plate in the sink and rinsed it off so Alfred had less to do.

"Maybe." I smiled as I dried my hands and walked into the main room, looking at the three boxes of clothes Marcella has brought and a huge case of makeup.

"If it means anything, one of these boxes is half shoes. The rest you can keep though. I don't wear any of it anymore." She said, placing her hands on her hips with a sigh of relief as if she was happy to get rid of them.

"Wait. Keep? Marcella, I just asked to borrow an outfit." I responded.

"Borrow for what?" Dick crossed his arms.

"I'm meeting up with a friend I met while I was in the orphanage. No more questions!" I said, looking over at him. He held his hands up in response and backed away.

"Down, tiger. I'll just go workout. Have fun." He said before giving Marcella a kiss and walking in the direction of the gym area in the manor. I looked back at Marcella and sat down on one of the sofas.

"Really though. You can keep them. They're mostly professional clothes so just incase Bruce makes you go anywhere. There are some nice dresses just to go out in, but yeah." She said as I began looking through the boxes.

We looked through the boxes for a while, putting together potential outfit ideas. Alfred had returned home and provided us with drinks as we searched. We put together three classy casual outfits. The first was a green, fitted top with a black pencil skirt and some black wedges. The second was a black, flowing dress with some black flats. The third was a red bodycon dress with some black lace details and black pumps.

"What do you think?" Marcella asked, looking through her box of makeup to find things that worked with each outfit. We'd been at this for a few hours and now I only had two hours until I needed to meet Jason.

"He'd like the red one. He likes red." I said and sat in front of her so she could do my makeup.

Marcella had already done my hair as we looked through the boxes. She straightened it and made two little braids on each side and crossed them over so they looked like I was wearing a headband. She began putting makeup on my face. I wasn't used to getting anything done, so I didn't know what each thing was. Marcella was in her glory though. It seemed as if she never had free time or an off day. She directed me well. I closed my eyes when she told me to. I tilted and turned my head when she asked. I puckered my lips and made weird fish faces when the time was needed.

"Alright, go change. Don't look in the mirror! And don't touch your face. Be careful. Go, go!" She said eagerly, sending me into an empty room to change.

I took my clothes off and slipped the dress on over my body. I'd need her to zip it, so I bent down to place the shoes on my feet and did my best to try to zip the dress up a little. When I came out of the bathroom, she was waiting and I turned so she could zip up the dress and button the top button. I turned and looked at her.

"Well?"

"Well what? Go see for yourself now." She said as we walked to a tall mirror in the main hall and the sight was shocking. "You, Hailee Anne Lewis, look fucking amazing." Marcella smiled at me in the reflection and I smiled back. She handed me a small black bag and looked at her watch with widened eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"We only have fifteen minutes to get you there! Let's go! I'll drive." She panicked, rushing us to her car outside. "Tell your friend we'll maybe a few minutes late." Marcella said as she drove off the Wayne Manor property and into Gotham City.

"Uh, yeah..." I said, pretending to text Jason on my phone. Truth was, I didn't have his number. He'd just hopefully not leave. We pulled up to the restaurant where and I let out a sigh. Was I ready for this? Was this really about to happen?

"You're going to be fine, Hailee. If this person doesn't drive you home, just text me and I'll come get you so Alfred doesn't ask anything either, okay?" She held my hand and gave a reassuring squeeze. I nodded and opened the door. "Have fun!" She called as I closed the door and she began to drive off.

I approached the restaurant and looked around at the busy area. New Gotham Avenue wasn't a horrible area. We were actually in a nicer place, but I was ten minutes late and I didn't know if Jason would have run off thinking I ditched him. I sighed and walked up the sidewalk and over to Silvio's, avoiding people in my way. As I got to the door, I saw someone emerge from the alleyway. He wore black boots, black pants that could pass for nice and a black button down that was rolled up to his forearms. The white streak in his hair stood out as did the astonished look on his face.

"Whoa."

 ** _A/N: So, it's been about 2 years since I even thought about updating this story, and in that time, you've constantly read and favorited this story, so I decided to give a go at trying again. From this point, there may be a few things inconsistent as I don't even remember where I was going with this, but please leave a review and let me know what you think of this being back!_**


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